A UN helicopter gunship has fired on troops loyal to a dissident general to halt their advance towards Goma in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Earlier the followers of renegade Gen Laurent Nkunda took control of parts of Sake, close to the Rwandan border, after attacking army positions. Thousands of civilians fled their homes in the town. Casualties are unclear. The clashes are the most serious in the east since DR Congo's first elections were held earlier this year. Tension is already high in the capital, Kinshasa, where the Supreme Court is due to deliver its verdict on the legal challenge to last month's presidential run-off election brought by the former rebel leader and current Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba. In his appeal, Mr Bemba said the results that gave victory to President Joseph Kabila did not reflect the reality at the ballot box. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk

Americans have the warmest feelings about former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Republican Sen. John McCain and Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, according to a poll released Monday that scores the popularity of national leaders. The Quinnipiac University's "thermometer reading," taken the week after the Nov. 7 election, asked voters to rate their feelings for 20 leaders on a scale of 0 to 100. Giuliani, a Republican weighing a presidential bid in 2008, scored the highest at 64.2. Obama and McCain, who are also considering a 2008 campaign, finished next at 58.8 and 57.7. President Bush was 15th out of 20 while his secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, was fourth and former President Clinton fifth. ...http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2681647

Chad's government has deployed troops outside the capital, N'Djamena, in case of a rebel attack, but it denies that the city is under threat. Rebels say its advance on N'Djamena has stopped, but its war of attrition against President Idriss Deby goes on. Rebel leader Mahamat Nouri has told the BBC that his rebel allies are just over 200km north of the capital. But a BBC reporter in N'Djamena says the city is tense and hundreds of armed soldiers are patrolling the streets. Earlier, the government said it had retaken two towns near the Sudanese border, a day after rebels seized them, but the rebels said they were withdrawing from the towns. In April, a rebel column advanced from the Sudanese border to the outskirts of N'Djamena before being repelled. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6187118.stm

Israel is ready to release many jailed Palestinians in return for a soldier seized by militants in June, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced on Monday, saying he was reaching out for peace. In a major policy speech, Olmert offered to ease travel restrictions on Palestinians and free up frozen funds if violence against Israel ended. He repeated his readiness to give up some occupied land for an eventual peace agreement. "We are ready and willing to pursue this path, and persevere until we reach the sought-after solution," Olmert said. Within hours of Olmert's address, Palestinian militants in Gaza fired rockets into the Israeli border town of Sderot, despite a ceasefire declared on Sunday. Nobody was hurt. Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, part of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, claimed responsibility for the attack, which followed the killing of two Palestinians in an Israeli raid in the West Bank, where a truce is not in effect...http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061127/ts_nm/mideast_dc

A former sheriff pleaded not guilty Monday to federal charges that he took part in a scheme to sell drugs seized from criminals along with 12 former and current officers. Former sheriff H. Franklin Cassell was arraigned in U.S. District Court along with three Henry County sheriff's deputies, all of whom pleaded not guilty in the racketeering conspiracy. Arraignments for the remaining defendants were set through Wednesday. Cassell was glad to get moving with his defense, said his lawyer, John Lichtenstein. The indictment returned Oct. 31 said Cassell, 68, looked the other way as officers sold drugs seized in criminal investigations and stole guns and other evidence. He is charged with impeding federal agents' investigation and money laundering. ...http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2681669

A suicide car bomber attacked a Canadian armored vehicle Monday, killing two soldiers a day before NATO leaders gather in Europe for a summit that will focus on the strengthening Taliban insurgency here. A new report, meanwhile, found that despite recent advances in the country's education system, more than half of Afghan children still do not attend school and only one in 20 girls go to secondary school. The suicide bomber attacked a convoy of military vehicles traveling from the main NATO base in Kandahar to the Panjwayi district, an area that's seen heavy fighting between NATO and the Taliban the last several months. "The Taliban cannot defeat us militarily in the field and so from time to time they resort to these very desperate measures," said Brig. Gen. Tim Grant, commander of the Canadian mission in Kandahar. "This was the home where the Taliban movement started. It makes sense the Taliban want to fight here."...http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-11-27-agfghanistan-suicide-blast_x.htm?csp=34